Man is accused of pulling knife at schoolyard fight.

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When a substitute math teacher tried to break up a fight between Leroy Cantu's nephew and a smaller student at Longfellow Middle School two years ago, Cantu decided to enter the fracas himself — upping the ante by pulling a knife.

That's what witnesses and attorneys said Tuesday as testimony began in Cantu's aggravated assault trial. If Cantu, 31, is convicted by the jury, state District Judge Juanita Vasquez-Gardner could dole out a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Cantu's nephew was about a foot taller than the other student and was hunched over him, punching him repeatedly in the face, teacher Larry Barron said.

He noticed the fight as he was about to drive home from the Northwest Side campus one afternoon in October 2009, he said.

“I had rolled down my window and yelled for them to stop,” recalled Barron, who since the incident has been hired by the San Antonio Independent School District as a full-time teacher. “I tackled (Cantu's nephew) to save the sixth-grader.”

As the teacher grabbed the two students, separating them, Cantu approached, yelling, “Get off my boy,” and waved a knife with a 4- to 6-inch blade, Barron testified.

The defendant got within about seven feet before Barron released the nephew and began backing away with the smaller student, trying to keep himself and the child from getting hurt, he said.

Cantu was present at the fight and did have a knife, defense attorneys Jesus Garza and Javier Garcia conceded during opening statements. But Cantu had his arm in a sling as the result of recent shoulder surgery, Garcia said, adding that the teacher appeared to be choking the nephew.

“Leroy Cantu felt that he had to protect his nephew,” Garza said. “Leroy Cantu had no other choice but to confront this teacher.”

Prosecutors Ana Liz DeLeon-Vargas and Bill Pennington called two other Longfellow teachers Tuesday who witnessed the confrontation. Special education teacher Paul Petri said he never saw Barron choke either student. He also never saw Cantu wearing a sling, he said.